Hinge



S. L. YOUNG July 31, 1962 HINGE Filed July 16, 1959 q Mn TM N M m ma Km3 0 M M B m &w 7

3,04 ,570 HINGE Sherwood L. Young, Monson, Mass, assiguor to AmericanRadiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, Holyoke, Mass., a corporationof Delaware Filed July 16, 1959, Ser. No. 827,614 1 Claim. (Cl. 4-240)This invention relates to new and useful improvements in hinges and,more particularly, to a hinge which is especially adapted for pivotallyconnecting a seat member to a Water closet bowl, for connecting the seatand cover members to each other and-to the bowl or for connecting acover member to a seat member.

An object of the invention is to provide a hinge of flexible, resilientmaterial which will not be damaged by the dropping of the seat and/orcover members to the floor or ground when detached from the bowl whichmight occur, for example, in handling during shipment.

Another object is to provide a hinge which does not require lubrication.

Another object is to provide a hinge which will conform to surfaceunevenness or inequalities of a closet bowl which unevenness oftenoccurs in china manufacture.

Another object is to provide a hinge structure which can be colored tomatch the color of the hinged parts such as the seat, cover and bowl,for example.

The foregoing and other objects will be apparent from I the followingspecification.

In the accompanying drawings to be taken as a part of thisspecification, there is fully and clearly illustrated a preferredembodiment of the invention, in which drawmgs,

FIGURE 1 is top plan view of the hinge attached to seat and covermembers and showing a portion of the closet bowl on which they aremounted and to which the hinge is secured;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation, looking from left to right of FIG. 1and showing in section certain portions of the closet bowl and hinge toillustrate the securement gf the seat and cover members to each otherand to the FIG. 3 is a detail View in section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 4 is a detail view in section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, the numeral 1designates a water closet bowl preferably of china or porcelain, havingrear shelf or flange portions with laterally spaced vertical holes 2therethrough as is well known in the art. Each of the holes 2 receives ahinge post or rod 3 in the form of a screw threaded bolt preferably ofbrass having a generally flat surrounding head 4 providing an annularend flange. The heads 4 are embedded respectively in the supporting endportions 5 of hinge arms 6 which are of a rigid plastic material;preferably Marlex 50 which is a high density polyethylene made by thePhillips Chemical Company. By the term rigid plastic material is meantmaterial which will give without taking a permanent set, which hassulficient rigidity to maintain alignment of the seat and cover, thatis, not such rigidity as will prevent flexing but sulfi, cientresilience or flexibility to return the parts to their original moldedalignment when they have been forced out of line. Additional rigidplastic materials which are suitable for the entire hinge structureincluding the arms 6, but in the preferred form excepting the bolts, arenylon; polypropylene; high impact polystyrene; Lexan, a

I polycarbonate produced by General Electric Company;

Kralastic, a blend of styrene-acrylonitrile resin andacrylonitrile-butadiene rubber produced by U.S. Rubber Company; andDelrin,

is of a type which does not need lubrication.

Each'of the endportions 5 which encasethe bolt heads 4 has a portion 7underlying its head flange and having a flat undersurface extendingtransverse to its bolt axis;

It should be noted that the bolts or rods 3 could beof rigid'plasticmaterial and be molded or formed integral with 'the arms 6. The flatundersurfaces lie upon the bowl flanges, the portions 7 not only lockingthe bolt heads in place within the arm end portions 5, but also act ingas abutment washers to cushion the clamping of the hinge structure tothe china flanges. "Each of the posts or bolts 3 is pulled up tightagainst the china flanges with interposed fiber and metal washers underthe nuts 8 in accordance with common practice. The portions 7 functionto cushion the bolt heads in the same manner as the fiber washers whichcushion the nuts 8. The arms 6 incline upward and forward and eachterminates in a hearing portion 9 having a horizontally positionedcylindrical aperture 10 therethrough. The apertures 10 are aligned witheach other and have their common centerline extending across the closetand substantially at right angles to its fore and aft centerline.

Extending through and journaled in the bearing apertures 10 is a shaftor rod 11 of circular cross-section and of the material used for thearms 6. The resilience of the shaft 11 and of the arms 6 permits thehinge structure to conform to any slight unevenness of the bowl flangesor failure of the top surface of the rear bowl portion to lie in asingle plane. Journaled on the ends of the shaft 11 outward of thesupporting arms 6, there are seat supporting hinge members 12. Each ofthe members 12 is in the form of an end cap rotatably fitting on theshaft and is of L-shape in end view, i'.e., in a plane at right anglesto the shaft axis. Each of the members 12, when the seat 15 issubstantially horizontal or in supporting position on the bowl, has adownward positioned arm 13 from which a forward extending arm 14projects. Each of arms 14 has a flat top face which receivesthe fiatunderface 16 of the rear portion of the closet seat 15. The hinge arms14 are secured to the seat 15 'by screws 17 which extend throughcounterbored holes through the arms 14.

The bowl or seat cover 18 is supported by laterally spaced hinge members19 having forwardly extending arms 20 with flat upper faces 21, the armsextending substantially horizontally between the seat and cover members,that is, they underlie the cover member. Each of the members 19 has adownward extending arm 22 which terminates in a bearing portion 23having a horizontally positioned cylindrical aperture 24 therethroughwhich rotatably receives the shaft 11. The apertures 24 are in line witheach other and substantially fit the shaft 11. The bearing portions 23are positioned between and closely adjacent their respective supportingmember bearing portions 9 such that the cover is closely confinedagainst lateral movement, that is, against movement longitudinally ofthe shaft 11. The cover 18 is tightly secured to the arms 20 by screwsextending through counterbored rear and front holes 25, 26 respectively,through the arms 20.

Each of the arms 20 has on its underface a longitudinally extending rib27 which extends fore and aft of and laterally beside the rear hole 25so that it serves as a bumper to protect the seat from marring by thehead Passes July 31 11952,

a polyformaldehyde, produced by E. I. "du Pont Company; These materialsmay be, used interchangeably for the various hinge parts and each metalscrew heads quite likely might do so. Upon release of the pressure whichdepressed the cover hinge arms against the seat, the resilience of thehinge structure will return it to its original and correct or normalposition as shown in FIG. 2, whereas if the hinge structure was of brass(which is the commonly used material), it might be given a permanent setwhich would throw the structure out of line.

The hinge portions 12 and 23 are journaled on the shaft 11 which is freeto turn in the bearing supports 9 which also form journals for theshaft. The plastic material has a further advantage over the commonlyused plated metal in that it will not turn green when subjected to acidand has no plating or other finish to wear ofi.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

A hinge for a toilet cover for use with a toilet bowl having a seatassembly comprising a toilet seat cover, a toilet seat, a pair ofsemi-rigid resilient plastic hinge members having countersunk fastenerssecuring said hinge members to the under side of said cover, one portionof each of said hinge members being an integral arm of the samesemi-rigid plastic material extending downwardly at an angle away fromsaid cover, a pivot connection to which said arm is pivotally connectedand extending upwardly from said toilet bowl, a toilet seat pivotallyconnected to said pivot connection, each of said cover hinge membershaving a downwardly extending enlarged portion being adapted to lie inclosely spaced relation to the seat when in closed position so that thesame will engage said toilet seat when pressure is applied to said seatcover due to the resiliency of said semi-rigid plastic integral arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.157,272 -Lillyblad et a1. Feb. 14, 1950 1,673,915 Lowe June 19, 19282,086,211 Campbell July 6, 1937 2,431,263 Lundgren Nov. 18, 19472,535,789 De Bell Dec. 26, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 146,380 Sweden July 27,1954 64,158 France May 18, 1955 (Addition to 1,03 6,170)

